[Idea]Age Clasification for mods?

[MineYoshi]

I mean if games have an "ESRB" or "PEGI" classification, to make the games don't be played for someone who isn't the enoughly "mature" to see, hear, or play some content... Why the mods don't have one?
(Justly wondering...)

[SegFault22]

I mean if games have an "ESRB" or "PEGI" classification, to make the games don't be played for someone who isn't the enoughly "mature" to see, hear, or play some content... Why the mods don't have one?
(Justly wondering...)

It might make sense in some countries, if minetest were ever distributed as an installer disc (CD, or DVD), and said countries require that distributed games have such content classification. The base game itself (without any "extra" mods) would probably be rated "E" or "E10+", whereas a DVD install disc with many subgames and alternative texture packs may be rated something like "T" or "M", if it has at least one subgame or modpack or mod feature which is particularly gory or having "obscene" features ("bad words", animal mob reproduction "the old fashioned way", limb/body dismemberment and blood/gibs, fragmentation explosives, chemical/biological weapons, nuclear bombs, missiles to carry explosives or chemical/biological weapons or nuclear bombs to distant places, mind control weapons, electricity weapons or tesla's tungsten-shot-guided death ray, longitudinal EM weapons that can melt vehicle engines or turn steel beams to powder, aircraft-mounted weapons of any type, "and so on"), while a disc-install particularly engineered to feature "adult content" would likely be rated "AO" (I don't ever want this to be done, but due to minetest being open-source and relatively easy to modify, the chance of it being done only ever gets closer to one as time approaches infinity).

It isn't likely for individual mods, modpacks, subgames or even the game itself to be given a rating for downloading it from the internet - I don't remember seeing games like Minecraft having a rating, or any other game or game content pack which is downloaded from the internet, for that matter. Also, most makers of online-enabled games (games distributed by disc and having multiplayer functionality separate from an offline mode) usually don't have the "online part" rated by ESRB or other states' equivalents - they would have to rate it AO or equivalent, due to the fact that almost anything could possibly be seen in a multiplayer setting, even "stuff" that has not been intended by the creators of the game or deliberately added; but this isn't really relevant because the game isn't designed to be primarily multiplayer, even though singleplayer is extremely lacking in immersion at present and it can get boring extremely quickly.

If mods or modpacks or subgames were distributed by disc separate from the game "engine", they could be given ratings, but it is most likely that they would come with installer files for the "engine" as well, so that the game doesn't have to be bought or downloaded separately, unless it is specifically an "expansion pack" and it wouldn't make much sense to have the game installers included as well (too full CD/DVD - imagine how many mods/texture-packs it would take to fill a DVD, though)

It would be nice for the game (and possibly some extra mods/modpacks/sub-games) to be distributed by disc and sold in game stores (as long as the price either mostly goes to the developers/online-host to be used wisely for necessary costs, or the price is only covering the cost to produce and distribute the discs) - in this case, it would be relevant to have ESRB (or equivalent) rate the content to be put on the discs.

[MineYoshi]

I mean if games have an "ESRB" or "PEGI" classification, to make the games don't be played for someone who isn't the enoughly "mature" to see, hear, or play some content... Why the mods don't have one?
(Justly wondering...)

It might make sense in some countries, if minetest were ever distributed as an installer disc (CD, or DVD), and said countries require that distributed games have such content classification. The base game itself (without any "extra" mods) would probably be rated "E" or "E10+", whereas a DVD install disc with many subgames and alternative texture packs may be rated something like "T" or "M", if it has at least one subgame or modpack or mod feature which is particularly gory or having "obscene" features ("bad words", animal mob reproduction "the old fashioned way", limb/body dismemberment and blood/gibs, fragmentation explosives, chemical/biological weapons, nuclear bombs, missiles to carry explosives or chemical/biological weapons or nuclear bombs to distant places, mind control weapons, electricity weapons or tesla's tungsten-shot-guided death ray, longitudinal EM weapons that can melt vehicle engines or turn steel beams to powder, aircraft-mounted weapons of any type, "and so on"), while a disc-install particularly engineered to feature "adult content" would likely be rated "AO" (I don't ever want this to be done, but due to minetest being open-source and relatively easy to modify, the chance of it being done only ever gets closer to one as time approaches infinity).

It isn't likely for individual mods, modpacks, subgames or even the game itself to be given a rating for downloading it from the internet - I don't remember seeing games like Minecraft having a rating, or any other game or game content pack which is downloaded from the internet, for that matter. Also, most makers of online-enabled games (games distributed by disc and having multiplayer functionality separate from an offline mode) usually don't have the "online part" rated by ESRB or other states' equivalents - they would have to rate it AO or equivalent, due to the fact that almost anything could possibly be seen in a multiplayer setting, even "stuff" that has not been intended by the creators of the game or deliberately added; but this isn't really relevant because the game isn't designed to be primarily multiplayer, even though singleplayer is extremely lacking in immersion at present and it can get boring extremely quickly.

If mods or modpacks or subgames were distributed by disc separate from the game "engine", they could be given ratings, but it is most likely that they would come with installer files for the "engine" as well, so that the game doesn't have to be bought or downloaded separately, unless it is specifically an "expansion pack" and it wouldn't make much sense to have the game installers included as well (too full CD/DVD - imagine how many mods/texture-packs it would take to fill a DVD, though)

It would be nice for the game (and possibly some extra mods/modpacks/sub-games) to be distributed by disc and sold in game stores (as long as the price either mostly goes to the developers/online-host to be used wisely for necessary costs, or the price is only covering the cost to produce and distribute the discs) - in this case, it would be relevant to have ESRB (or equivalent) rate the content to be put on the discs.

Well, i don't know... I woulda like to do a "RPG game with History" based in Minetest, distribute and give 70% of the money to original devs(of Minetest)...
Anyways, i don't know, i justly was wondering about this question... Thanks for the answer. :)

[SegFault22]

Well, i don't know... I woulda like to do a "RPG game with History" based in Minetest, distribute and give 70% of the money to original devs(of Minetest)...
Anyways, i don't know, i justly was wondering about this question... Thanks for the answer. :)

I figure that as long as it doesn't have any of that "nasty stuff" or "obscene stuff", then you could get a pretty good rating. Since Minecraft disc releases usually get rated E10 (everyone 10 years and older), that's probably what your discs would be rated.

It would be really nice to distribute an embodiment of Minetest, especially if people could buy it from a game store somewhere and install it to their computer without having to go look it up on the internet just to find out about it. Many people would probably like that it would be "like Minecraft but better", and that it would be cheaper than buying a Minecraft disc, and that it can run well on "old" 32-bit systems.

If you decide to go the route of distributing it on discs, it would probably be a good idea to keep the files for your modified version on a centralized site like launchpad, so that you can include a small program which checks for new versions online and downloads one if it is available (only when run manually).

[Wuzzy]

Anyone is free to burn Minetest on CDs or copy it on whatever data storage they like and sell it without paying a penny to any of the developers, as long as they follow the licenses.
The upside of retail is that it increases exposure, the downside is that it will become outdated sooner or later. And that it is maybe too early.

For me, Minetest (and Minetest Game) is too unfinished to be of “retail” quality. There are still some serious bugs which are too serious for a quality game / game engine. If you want to sell it right now, you should make it very clear that Minetest / Minetest Game is still only in Beta stage. I wonder if there would still be people willing to pay for something which is essentially buggy and incomplete and could be just downloaded from the Internet anyway. But hey, this is economics, everything could happen! xD
If the Beta stage is not made clear you risk damaging Minetest's and your own reputation. Also don't forget the distinction between Minetest Game and Minetest.

Oh, and the age classification is usually not something you do by yourselves, it is rather enforced by particular countries which put a label on everything. You don't really have a choice here (legally speaking).